Our Daily Routine – Winter

Our daily routine changes with the seasons and since I’ve posted a spring/summer look into our daily lives, today I thought I would share what winter looks like. Although winter has it’s own set of challenges, it’s not nearly as busy or work intensive as summer. I’m ok with that! During the summer we work incredibly hard to do outside projects and work in the garden so winter is considered a time of rest. Although the winter can get long, I always look forward to it in the fall because I know that there is a season for everything and the cold weather signifies the change from outside projects to indoor projects. A time to rest, gear up, and prepare for the next summer.

Our Daily Routine – Winter

Our children are currently almost 8 months, 3, and 5. The oldest just started kindergarten this year. I guess we would be considered unschoolers because of the way we do our schoolwork but when you child has special learning challenges, you do what works for them and your family! On the flip side, our 3 year old seems to be very advanced for his age and he enjoys “doing school” right along with his brother.

Also…thanks to some ‘coons and a need to downsize our cattle herd because of the drought, we currently just have one cow. We plan on getting chickens, turkeys, an additional calf, and pigs this spring once we can get outside to build more secure pens for them. But for now, our outdoor chores are very minimal (and usually done by my husband since flipping a hay bale is something I’m not built to do!).

This is our routine for a typical day when I am at home all day. Things do get changed around a bit when we have appointments and when I’m working at our family business. (Instead of the morning routine here, I work from 5am – 8am and the whole family comes to the business with my husband until about 9, then we go home and finish out the day).

Alrighty then, let’s get into the day!

5 am – Wake up and get ready for the day for me. Load of laundry in the washer.

5:30 am – Quiet Bible reading, then cleaning up any mess in the kitchen from the night before.

5:50 am – Work. Either on the blog or on other consulting work. Breakfast time for me and if I need to get breakfast started for the kids (ie: bake bread, etc) that is started now.

7:30 am – The boys get up and come downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast for the boys is nearly always a protein, a carb, and a fruit.

8 am – Back upstairs to get the boys dressed and to make sure they make their beds (first chore of the day).

8:15 am – Playtime for all kids mixed with a few more chores. My youngest son puts away the silverware while I empty the dishwasher. I continue with household chores as needed and get out any supplies we need for school that day.

9 am – Baby eats again and then lays down for a nap. Time to start our “sit down” schooling for the day.

10 am – School continues with some kind of organizing crafting or project while I work on getting supper prepped (either in the slow cooker or getting meat out to thaw).

11 am – Lunch time for everyone. Lunch is always leftovers or leftovers mixed with pantry foods that need to be eaten or salads. Lunch will depend on what’s available but the goal is always a protein plus two veggies or a veggie and a fruit.

11:30 am – Quiet time/nap time. The boys will head to their rooms to rest, look at books, play with toys from our quiet time boxes, or listen to books on tape. During this time I catch up with chores, clean up from lunch, and sit down to work or read for a while.

1:30 pm – Free play time again. If it’s nice enough (above 20 degrees) we will play outside, if it’s too cold we will pull out the puzzles, games, or whatever else we can find to do.

2:30 pm – Quick snack time before the kids finish up their chores. Laundry pick up for my oldest and wiping down surfaces while my younger son wipes down surfaces in the bathrooms. This is usually a good time for me to run the vacuum or sweep.

3 pm – Read aloud time. At the moment we are reading through “The Littles” book series and we also use this time to read through any books that we have to go along with our schooling for the week.

3:30/45 pm – Free play until daddy gets home from work. We try to only have open-ended toys in our home, so this might mean playing with their train track, toy cars, dress up clothes, or something similar. On occasion, I might pick out an educational short movie (20-30 minutes) for the kids instead. Another alternative is books on “tape”. We LOVE them as you can see from the pic! We get them from our local library. During this time I work on supper prep.

4:30 pm – My hubby comes home and by this time I have supper almost finished. My youngest son works on setting the table while I put the food out and get the baby ready to eat too.

5 pm – Supper time! Supper in our home is loud and silly and a little crazy but we always eat together no matter what. Memories 🙂

5:45 pm – My oldest son clears the table with help from his daddy and they load the dishwasher while I head upstairs to clean up the two little ones. The oldest cleans up and gets ready for bed when he is finished with his chore.

6:15 pm – Bedtime reading time and time to wind down.

7 pm – Bedtime for the boys. Mini nap time for baby. She’s not on a great schedule yet so it doesn’t always go this way. Sometimes she just gets to hang out with mommy and daddy while we work.

7:15 pm – Time for my husband and I to work! We usually have 2 or so hours of work in the evenings online. If he doesn’t have work, he will work on projects out in the garage. Several nights per month we have another couple over for either Bible study or game night.

8:30 – 9 pm – Work is finished for the day so I can relax with my projects. Crocheting, embroidery, a card game with hubby, a book, or the puzzle that I’m currently working on.

10 pm – Bedtime.

As you can see, this day is very different than our summer days! There is inside chores, schooling, and even a little bit of fun and crafts…something that doesn’t happen often in the summer. This is exactly why I’m thankful for seasons and when they change. 🙂

I agree! Yes, I love my little storage crocks. We found several of them in different sizes at an antique store once for $5 each (because they have cracks) and we bought so many! I use them for trash cans, and various kitchen things 🙂

Hi! Great post! I was wondering what curriculum you use for homeschool? My daughter is also kindergarten. We are using little hearts for his glory. Omigosh…. It’s set up to make it so easy. It breaks the subjects down into 15 minutes. You can do them throughout the day. We do the storyline at bedtime, etc. Plus, the phonics program is awesome. And easy. I love this program because it isn’t overwhelming to me or my daughter. And, price wise…. It was a couple hundred bucks… But you can use the stuff for the rest of your kids. And, it’s way cheaper than a lot of the programs out there. Big bonus….. It is all setup with a lesson plan for each day. And, all the subjects feed off the other ones. It really is super super simple and enjoyable!

Good for you for having meals TOGETHER! Our girls are all grown with children of their own now. But they used to tell us how “strange” we were than most of their friends who never ate at the table as a family. Instead it was take a plate and go to there own room. I thought this so sad and it was something that was always brought up and we would tell them how important it was to us to hear about their day and spend time together as a family. Many times their girlfriends would eat at out house and point out how different it was to eat as a family … It just made me sad….

I always insisted on the eating together part too, and Sunday dinner was a really big deal. The only thing that suffered was leisure time for the kids to socialize with their buddies, so we had an “open door” policy that allowed any kid in my house to eat dinner/snack with us & spend a little time beyond “homework dates”. My kids have kids of their own and follow the same rules–it is nice to be older and be validated for whatever turned out right in their own lives. Hang in there–it may be a hassle now but, somehow, we all survive even with “killer” schedules/work. Congrats on your site–it is so nice to see a young family with common sense values!

Hello Merissa, We now have two grown sons. Our lives with homeschooling have been quite similar to yours. Be encouraged! As time went on I found that I needed to write out our home-school and family values for me to read often. This is how I/we avoided too much busyness and comparing our school to other schools, public, private, charter, etc. I recommend it. We also had a special learner older son with food allergies and a younger son/brother.

We did not delve into all the prepping/gardening that you are doing. Every situation is different. We each have our own unique life journey, it is not good to compare ourselves to other women/families.

I love the simple living, creative focus you have developed for your readers. Beginning sewing now. Also, some crochet and knitting.

With my house being just my husband and our two dogs, there’s a lot of ‘free’ time all day long. I do my best writing in the mornings and that’s when I work on any freelance projects I get. The rest of the day is a combination of cleaning tasks (why don’t they ever end!) and knitting, reading and babysitting our two grand daughters, one of whom is a Marisa, too! Not to mention walking the dogs; I get some of my best inspiration when out in the quiet with them. Thanks for a great post!

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Welcome to Little House Living! My name is Merissa and it’s nice to meet you! Here you can learn how to make the most with what you have. Whether that’s learning how to cook from scratch, checking out creative ways to save money, and learn how to live simply. I’m glad you’ve found your way here. Make sure to keep in touch by contacting me with questions and signing up for our newsletters.